Items tagged with NASDAQ: GOOG

When Google introduced its goo.gl URL shortener in 2009, it came at a time when the web wasn't littered with similar services. Since then, many companies have emerged to offer similar functionality. And that's a good thing, because if you did like goo.gl, you're going to have to find an alternative very soon. In a new blog post, Google has announced that it's shuttering its goo.gl URL shortening service on March 30, 2019, paving the way for developers to shift their focus to its Firebase Dynamic Links API. Users and developers alike have the one-year period to continue using the service, though...Read more...

There's a lot that Google's Assistant can currently do, from quickly figuring out who that actor or actress was in a movie you vaguely remember, checking a stock price, or seeing what's new in the world. Thr Google's Assistant will be able to do a lot more in the future, and according to the big G, the sky's really the limit. At SXSW in Austin, the company will be showing off some of what's possible. How about having a robot that sorts your sock drawer? Or one that fetches some soda from the fridge and brings it to you - all so you don't have to miss any of the game? Not even Google knows all of...Read more...

A handful of Apple engineers fell from Cupertino's tree and into Google's hands earlier this year, and apparently 2017 wasn't about to end without another notable move taking place. Talented engineers commonly move around the industry, so many employer changes are uneventful, but when the person involved in a move is a top chip designer at a major player like Apple, things become a little more interesting. The man in Google's crosshair this go-around is experienced chip designer John Bruno, whose tenure at Apple lasted five-and-a-half years. Before that, Bruno spent over eight years at AMD, working...Read more...

When Google announced Chrome nearly a decade ago, one of its promises was to deliver a more stable browser. The company used sandbox techniques to make sure that if a process in a tab goes screwy, it won't take down the rest of the browser with it. At first, it did almost feel like the browser was uncrashable, but the reality is, nothing is uncrashable. Eventually, once user apps began tying themselves into Chrome, the browser immediately became more vulnerable to crashing. It's not hard to understand why: if you inject code into a running application, there's no reason to expect that it's going...Read more...

If you're one of the lucky relative few who have Android 8.0 'Oreo' on their device, there are a couple of reasons to be pleased about its first major update, appropriately versioned 8.1. That's especially true if you happen to be using a device lacking storage, or simply hate battery-draining apps (and who doesn't?). Storage space comes at a premium in smartphones, but if you're using a high-end device, chances are you're not feeling the same kind of pain that those using lower-end phones are. In today's landscape, even 8GB is a paltry amount of storage - the kind that prevents people from taking...Read more...

With all of the stresses from life reported in the daily news, it's refreshing sometimes to hear something light-hearted that isn't serious or impactful in any way, but instead is just entertaining or playful. Case in point: the absurd hamburger emoji that's plagued Android for some time. If there's one thing people don't like other people messing with, it's their hamburgers. Shame on you, Google. As a bit of a refresher, media analyst and Twitter user Tomas Baekdal posted to the social media service at the end of October, drawing comparisons between the hamburger emoji used in iOS, versus...Read more...

Are you a little too anxious for the upcoming launch of Google's highly anticipated Pixel 2? If so, or you simply love the idea of getting an early look at how Google setup Oreo on its new flagship smartphones, we think we have a new weekend project for you. But don't fret, this one couldn't get much easier. As long as you own an Android phone, at least. In fact we set it up ourselves in just a few minutes. Google's upcoming Pixel 2 XL Android Flagship Smartphone In advance of next week's Pixel 2 launch, an APK of the same launcher used for both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL has hit the Web....Read more...

Just a couple of weeks ago, we took a look at the [then] forthcoming version 61 of Google's Chrome, which introduces some notable features, including support for a slew of new APIs. Chrome 61 is now available in the release channel; if you're using Chrome right now, chances are you can update simply by restarting your browser. The exact version out today is 61.0.3163.79, and it's available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It's really hard to weigh one of the updated features over another, as what's more useful really depends on your usage case. But one of Google's outed feature is new JavaScript...Read more...

If you already find yourself glued to Apple's Siri assistant, then you may be glad to learn that it's only going to become an even bigger part of your life going forward. That is, as long as assumptions are correct with regards to the latest shuffling around of executive responsibilities at Apple. Since 2012, Apple's Senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue has been overlooking Siri. Cue has a long history with Apple, and much success to gloat about. He's played an important role in securing streaming deals with content companies, and if that's not enough of a job in itself, he also oversees...Read more...

From the ongoing IFA event in Berlin, we learn that the Google Assistant will soon be integrating into a large number of products that might just wind up in our homes. IFA is dedicated to consumer electronics as well as appliances, and probably not too surprisingly, Google's Assistant finds a home in both. At its blog, Google tells us that three speakers are going to soon be launching that bundle its Assistant in, including Zolo Mojo, by Anker; TicHome Mini, by Mobvoi; and also the GA10, from a "little known company" called Panasonic. The big G assures us that these three are just the...Read more...

It's been an unfortunately busy few weeks for Android vulnerabilities. Earlier in the month, we wrote about SonicSpy, a grandiose piece of malware that could gain an incredible amount of control over your device - including, of course, being able to record your audio. Just last week, we followed-up with another story talking about the 500 apps Google obliterated from the Play Store that bundled an exploited ad network. Today, WireX is the name of the game, a piece of malware whose sole purpose is to turn our innocent mobile devices into a DDoSing bot network. On August 17, WireX hit many content...Read more...

Just last weekend, we wrote about SonicSpy, a grossly robust piece of malware that infected hundreds of apps on the Play Store. Google is always quick to remove this awful junk when it is detected, but the fact that we keep talking about the issue means it's not going away. It was security research firm Lookout that informed us of SonicSpy, and apparently, the company has been working overtime, as it now introduces us to yet another piece of Android maliciousness, an ad network called lgexin. This issue has impacted many apps on the Play Store, although it's not guaranteed that all of them unleashed...Read more...

The latest beta version of Chrome, version 61, has just dropped, and it brings with it a healthy collection of enhancements and new features. This beta is relevant seemingly for every platform it's regularly offered for, except iOS. Android, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, and of course Windows are all taken care of with this update. Arguably, the most notable addition to Chrome 61 is support for the Payment Request API, which will let websites send a payment request to the browser (securely), allowing people to pay via Android Pay on the desktop. Ultimately, when a wide rollout happens, it means that buying...Read more...

It's starting to look like Google's upcoming Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones could become some of the most alluring Android phones the company - or any company, for that matter - have released in a long time. A couple of weeks ago, we pored over the details of what was believed to be an accurate render, and today, we see another collection of renders from a party that seems to agree on most of the devices' visual cues. Credit: MySmartPrice In the aforementioned post, the design seen was believed to be the XL model, but based on these new renders, it would have actually been the non-XL. The...Read more...